Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Pink and Denim Quilt

K-ster has suddenly ripped every pair of jeans he owns, so I had a bunch of denim hanging around my sewing room.  I like the idea of denim quilts and I made one a while back, which I recently sold on my etsy.

That was a totally denim quilt and it was very, very  heavy.  I love a heavy  blanket over me, but not everyone does.  It also seemed a little dull to me.

This time, I thought I should use my vast assortment of pinks and mix them with the denim since I didn't really have enough denim to do a whole quilt.  I love pink and denim together.  And I love red and denim together so you can imagine what my  next denim quilt will be....


I made the top a couple of weeks ago and then debated what to do.  I knew I wanted pink on the back, but I wondered if I should use batting.

The denim is heavy and warm, and I didn't put batting in the last quilt.  But, I put a navy blue backing, so you couldn't see any of the seams.  This time, I knew a pink backing would allow too many seams to be seen.

And that would be unseamly.

I also knew that unlike my last quilt, I would not use super high loft batting, but the batting I have is kind of thin.

Luckily, it's thin enough that if I doubled it, it was just the thickness I wanted and I had just enough.

I also knew that I would machine quilt this one instead of tying it like I did with the last denim one.

When I quilted this last week, I was trying out the wavy pattern on my machine to see if it would do what I wanted.  It did, so I decided I would try it with this.  I thought this quilt was just small enough that I might be able to wrestle it through my machine and not swear too much.

I did some VERY unconventional things while I got this one ready.

First, I laid it out on my bed instead of tables.

And then, I broke the cardinal rule of quilting.  Not only did I lay it on a bed, I didn't baste it or use basting pins.  I just rolled it up.  I had a vision that I would use a binder clip in the far corner to keep things in line but that would not work.


I put on the walking foot but didn't use the neat guides I just learned about because I was going to quilt diagonally across the squares and figured it was unnecessary.

I had a pretty thick snake to wrestle through the machine and I got kind of nervous that this was a big fat mistake.

But, since I was just doing straight lines (with that wave) I thought I could handle it.

The first few rows were a breeze.  And then it got tricky as I maneuvered it through the machine as it got fatter and thinner through the rolls.

If I had stopped for a minute and cleared the table, it would have a been a little easier.  It's so long in the middle that I had to throw it over my shoulder as I was first guiding it in.

And there was a lot of swearing until I changed the needle.  I thought my regular needle would be fine because it's what I used to sew the squares together, but it kept breaking the thread.  Almost every row, I'd have to start again because the thread would break.  I tried everything except changing the needle.

And then the needle broke, so I decided to try replacing it with a jeans needle.

Brilliant.

No more swearing.

With all of the rule breaking, I didn't have any puckering of fabric or bunching on the back at all.  I think if I had also quilted in the other direction, that's when the evidence of not following the rules would have shown up, but I like this way this came out and it was problem free.


I see more of this wavy line quilting in my future.  It's something I can handle.  It's not hard to do and the machine does all the work if I just get it lined up right.  I don't have to move the fabric all over the place to do a neat pattern and that works for me right now.


It's fun to look at all of these pinks and read the history of my sewing!  I can tell you the source of every piece.  Most came from quilts I made, some have been sitting in my stash because they were in the clearance bin, and there are a few that someone gave me from when she used to do craft fairs in the 80s.  You can totally tell which fabrics those are when you look at them!

There are also two squares from a shirt that I once had that I loved but I didn't look great in it.  The bottom of the shirt had a neat pattern, so I cut it off and threw away the shirt.  That strip has sat in my pink stash for a really long time.  I'm glad I finally found a use for them!
There are a few pieces of flannel in there, so they add a nice textural surprise.

My favorite part is that I didn't buy any of the fabric for the top.  The jeans were k-ster's and the pinks were all fabrics I've had.  I debating piecing the back from pinks I have, but I didn't want there to be an overabundance of seams, so I bought fabric for the back.


If you're madly in love with it, you can purchase it on my etsy, right here.  It's totally machine washable and meant to be used, not just admired.

The seams are 1/2 inch instead of 1/4 inch because I've decided to go with 1/2 inch forever.  I had to try to fix a quilt I gave a friend of mine and it had practically disintegrated at the seams because I had just done the 1/4 inch that quilters do.  1/4 inch just doesn't work if people are going to use the quilt and wash them and treat them like any other blanket!

Don't forget to go vote for my sister in Project Run and Play before it's too late!

Linking here:
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2014/03/24/made-by-you-monday-196/
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.comhttp://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com
http://www.thesitsgirls.com/diy/spring-crafts/
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/03/clever-chicks-blog-hop-80-featuring.html 
http://mommifried.com/ladies-blog-share-link-party-spring-fling-link/
http://mumsmakelists.blogspot.com/2014/03/empty-your-archive-47.html#more
http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2014/03/wow-me-wednesday-147.html
http://www.gingerlymade.com/2014/03/show-tell-70.html#more
http://www.flamingotoes.com/2014/03/think-pink-sunday-no-157/
http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2014/03/sew-darn-crafty-linky-partymarch-theme_23.html
http://www.sewcando.com/
http://www.myturnforus.com/2014/03/freedom-fridays-with-all-my-bloggy_27.html
http://lifeasweknowitbypaula.blogspot.com/2014/03/no-rules-weekend-blog-party-with-linky_27.html
http://www.glitterglueandpaint.com/project-pin-party-30/
http://www.juliescreativelifestyle.com/2016/07/cooking-and-crafting-with-j-j-59-58.html

8 comments:

  1. I really like it. One of these days I am going to buy one of your quilts, but I am saving for our vacation next month at the moment.

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  2. I really like the colors a lot! And I still love that stitch. I can't believe you got away without basting.

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  3. Great quilt and love the colors :) Pinning!

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  4. I really like that you mixed in cotton & flannel & just used pinks & blues !!! It looks pretty neat ! I'm making a rag quilt jeans on one side and flannel on the other with half inch seams.Will have to get going on it again cause its in the UFO file !!!!! All my other jean quilts I did on the serger & then put fleece on the back.

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  5. I like your quilt ideas & choice of colors !

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  6. I really like your pink and denim quilt, it is beautiful.
    Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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  7. Can I put in a request to either purchase this gorgeous quilt or have you make me one? pink and denim how wonderful is that?Susie

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  8. This is TOO cute!

    I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for crafts, recipes, and tips: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/

    Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

    ReplyDelete

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